Jan 30th
SweetWater and our head brewer Nick Nock took home the gold once again at the annual Atlanta Cask Ale Festival. The Spice of Life cask Nick created was our Festive Ale that had been aged in a rum barrel for a few months. Over 400 folks were on hand at 5 Seasons at the Prado to taste 17 unique casks from breweries throughout the country. here is the website for the fest - check out all the photos of this event. if you missed it, don't sweat it our Brew Your Cask Off Festival is March 20th and we will have over 75 unique casks on hand from 75 guest brewers - I am sure Nick will have a few beauties there himself.

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Do you prefer wine, beer or hard liquor? Favorite drink? I gotta go with an ice cold brew. My favorite beer would have to be SweetWater 420, which is a local beer from Atlanta.

Looks like he not only creates some of the finest food at one of the best restaurants in the world, but he appreciates great beer as well!

Thanks Ron! some of Atlanta's finest is on its way to you courtesy of the folks at SweetWater.

Read Rochelle Bilow's entire interview here

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Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the South
talk of a party was stirring, by word of mouth.
The koozies were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. SweetWater soon would be there.

The locals were nestled in Snuggies by their beds,
While visions of hop vines danced in their heads.
And Freddy in his seat, and I behind the tap,
Had just popped a coldie for a tasty night cap.

When out at the brewery there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bar to see who was the party crasher.
Away to the window I stumbled like a pro,
Tore open the door and tripped on a ho.

The moon on the breast of our new found friend
Gave the glow of mid-day like J-Lo’s rear end
When, what to my dilated eyes should appear,
But a lowridin sleigh, and eight groovy reindeer.

With a little old driver, with brews made to slaughter,
I knew in a moment it must be St. SweetWater.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he hooted, and hollered, and called them by name!

"Now Dasher! Now Blue,! now, IPA and Motorboat!
On, Comet! On, Brown! On Festive and Choate!
He bounced off the patio! Barely clearing the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away y’all!"

He was dressed in Gore Tex, like an REI pimp
All his clothes were breathable, withstanding all temps
A bundle of brew, bottle openers and a stash,
He looked like a bartender raking in the cash.

He was chubby and plump, a right beer bellied jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
Some red lines in his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I would party till bed.

He slurred a few words, but went straight to his work,
And stuffed all the stockings, this dude aint no jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a shout,
They were gone like Elin and half of Tiger’s bank account.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘as they burned out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

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SweetWater’s Cask Ale Festival with a twist
SweetWater Give’s Retailers and Lucky Customers the opportunity to “Brew Their Cask Off”


ATLANTA (December 17th, 2009) – SweetWater Brewing Company is putting a personal touch on cask ale festivals by inviting some lucky ducks to come down to the brewery and create their own version of a cask ale. The “Brew Your Cask Off” Cask Ale Festival on March 20th, 2010 will feature 70+ cask entries all made on site at SweetWater Brewery by the fortunate folks who are invited or won the chance to brew their own recipe.

“We are creating a couple of base beers for them to start with and then letting their wild creative side take over from there!” said Mark Medlin, SweetWater’s Brewmaster. He will be overseeing all of the casks to make sure the final products are as tasty as the inspired recipes these amateur brewers had intended them to be. “Of course, we’ll have a few casks of our own for the festival as well.”

Those invited will be given a Cask recipe form and work directly with Hop City, a local package store and home brew shop, to pull together their master list of ingredients to go in their casks. They will have access to a diverse amount of yeast strains, spices, fruits, dozens of varieties of hops, and a plethora of offbeat adjuncts and additions. The only limits for this will be their creativity! All entries will be professionally judged prior to the tasting with awards for the Best Brews being given out during the Festival. Folks attending will also have their voices and votes heard as well with the People’s Choice award for the top cask.

The diverse list of guest brewers will include retailers of SweetWater brews, National and local beer media, home brewing societies, a few nonprofit organizations, and a some celebrities who will be stepping up to the plate to show off their skills. The non-profits will have the ability to not only have a cask entered into the festival, but also to raise some money for their organizations by auctioning off that privilege as well. Once on board, the guest brewers will work with Hop City package and home brew supply store to acquire all the necessary ingredients to create their masterpiece.

Kraig Torres, owner of Hop City says "We are so excited to be a part of Sweetwater's upcoming ‘Brew Your Cask-Off’ Pro-Am. We are huge fans of the beer and highly passionate home-brewers; frankly we aren't surprised Sweetwater has found a way to tap into both of these outlets! Our entire team - including our experts in beer, wine and home brewing - have contributed ideas for ingredients that will make each entrant's beer truly unique. Considering we stock more than 1,500 beers here at Hop City, we had plenty of resources for inspiration. We know it's going to be one heck of a contest. As always, Sweetwater has found a novel way to grab the attention of the beer world here in Atlanta and beyond."

For more information on SweetWater’s “Brew Your Cask Off” Cask Ale Festival, to see the full list of guest brewers, and to order your tickets for this one-of-a-kind event visit www.brewyourcaskoff.com

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SweetWater's Better Late Than Never Christmas Party

Always nice to do this a bit after the madness of the holidays, and 2010 brings a lot to celebrate. Join us at the Brewery, Jan 31st from 2-6pm - wear those ugly sweaters your aunt from Philly sent you and send her a photo from the party to show how much her thoughfulness means to you.

Lineup for the Day will be a live tunes from Rollin in the Hay, Our full year round line up, our Winter Seasonal Catch & Release "Happy Ending" a few kegs of SweetWater stash from the vault, and some Cask Ales which are not to be missed.All our year round brews plus the Happy Ending Catch and Release seasonal Imperial Stout
Plus
Big Medlin Barrel Double IPA - 100+ IBUs Barrel aged for 6 mo. in a French Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon Barrel
Wet Dream - Imperial Wet Hopped Red
BOBBB - High Gravity Wheat/Rye Belgian with 800 lbs. of Organic Blueberries
Sour Puss - Creeper (Belgian Triple IPA) aged for 6 mo. in a French Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon Barrel with natural souring agents
Donkey Punch - High Gravity Barley Wine
IPA Centennial Cask - Sweetwater IPA with an additional Dry Hop of Centennial Hops


No RSVP necessary for this sucker $8 for the souvenier pint glass, come as you are because this once a year Sunday afternoon at the brewery takes a little time to bounce back from!

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SweetWater Brewery offers up a “Tackle Box” of tasty brews
SweetWater opens their Tackle Box just in time for the holidays

ATLANTA (November 15th, 2009) – SweetWater Brewery has released the newest addition to their award winning lineup. The SweetWater Tackle Box variety pack is a hefty collection of year round brews along with a “Secret Stash” brew in each box. This new package will be released in short runs, and therefore only available for a limited time as they tease the taste buds of craft beer lovers throughout the southeast beginning in Atlanta mid November. Sure to be the crowd pleaser when this gets laid out on the bar at your next holiday party.

The Tackle box will be stocked up with three of SweetWater’s most popular year round favorites plus a style that is a little something special. The box will always feature a few bottles each of the 420 Extra Pale Ale, SweetWater’s flagship west coast style pale ale, the SweetWater Blue, a lighter bodied wheat ale with hints of fresh blueberries, and SweetWater’s IPA, an unfiltered dry hopped to the gills India Pale Ale. The “Secret Stash” will change each time the package is produced and will vary based on the season. The “Secret Stash” could be the newest Catch & Release seasonal, an offering from the Dank Tank experimental series or a sneak peak at a style SweetWater is looking at for the future. You’ll have to crack open a case to find out.

The process of putting something like this together was a labor intensive and logistical challenge for SweetWater. Steve Farace, SweetWater’s Minister of Propaganda, remembered “We had this package designed 7 years ago when we were still cranking out brews in our original brewery out off of Fulton Industrial Blvd., but we just couldn’t pull together all the pieces to put it into motion.” With the brewery’s passion for the freshness of their beer, as their unpasteurized beer is best within 90 days, SweetWater had to look to outside help to make sure these cases got put together quickly, and into their wholesalers hands within hours of the beer being ready.
To make that pipe dream a reality, SweetWater Brewery has partnered with EnAble of Georgia, whose mission is “Enabling individuals with developmental disabilities to live full and independent lives in the community”. EnAble of Georgia has hand packed all of these cases. According to Amy Hines, EnAble’s Coordinator of Day & Employment Services, “our staff feels so good about being part of the community and also takes great pride in working with SweetWater directly to exceed their expectations”.

Also featured on the new Tackle Box variety pack is SweetWater’s partnership with the Atlanta Humane Society. With the tagline of “Adopt your next drinking buddy” the top panel of the Tackle Box features a unique web address encouraging people who are looking for their next dog to go to www.atlantahumane.org/sweetwaterbuddy.asp to find that lucky little guy or gal. Farace said “the relationship with the Atlanta Humane Society has been in our blood for years. The majority of the folks who work for SweetWater have dogs, and we always encourage folks looking for their next drinking buddy to look 1st at the Humane Society. They do amazing work down there, but there are still so many dogs that need a home, and hopefully the info and reminder on our packaging will get a few more four legged friends into some loving homes.”

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There are several hundred brands of barleywine ale brewed throughout the world. Many are made by America’s 1,500+ small brewers. Recently a poll was open for 11 days where Examiner.com/beer readers nominated their favorite barley wine ales.
See the full results of the Donkey Punch Domination here

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